


Why You Need To Wait 30 Minutes Between Eating and Swimming

by YeahScience



Series: Sickdays 3.0 [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: But worth a read :), Drowning, Emetophobia, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gross, Haru being Haru, He's like the team mom, I said it was gross, M/M, Nagisa being Nagisa, Protective Tachibana Makoto, Sickdays 3.0, Sickfic, Stuffing, Tumblr Prompt, Vomiting, but cute, yeah mostly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 09:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11354526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YeahScience/pseuds/YeahScience
Summary: The old wive's tale specifies that you must wait half an hour after eating to start swimming, or you shall suffer terrible stomach cramps.But nothing can keep Nanase Haruka out of the water. Not even scarfing down two giant yogurt parfaits. Bad idea.





	Why You Need To Wait 30 Minutes Between Eating and Swimming

**Author's Note:**

> I am in quite the mood right now. The kind where you eat a dozen Hershey kisses and watch Netflix with resting bee-otch face. Yeah. So I wrote this and posted it :/ I DON’T CARE if this is a medical myth, it works on my whole family. 
> 
> Prompt: “WATER.” Taken from the upcoming “Sickdays 3.0” on tumblr. (I simply couldn’t wait to post this one, I wrote ahead and this prompt just SCREAMED MakoHaru.) I will post the rest when the actual week rolls around (7/23-7/29). 
> 
> Trigger warning: emetophobia. Some situationally-appropriate language.

Nanase Haruka’s relationship with water is, contrary to popular belief, is actually a love-hate one. He loved it so much that it permeated every fold of his brain, drowning the precious neural tissue and causing him to act stupidly. Really, really stupidly. Like right now.

  
His whole head was swimming, as was he. _Oh God, why did I eat that parfait? And then a second?_ His stomach was just as tumultuous as the water and felt like it was growing talons trying to claw its way out.

  
Continuing to act stupidly, Haru pushed himself. Another 50 meters, he huffed. I can make it.

  
~10 MINUTES EARLIER~

  
Nanase Haruka was late. And he was never, ever late. Not when it came to swimming. Hell, he was usually early, warmed up and in the pool a full half hour before the rest of the team even appeared, fully clothed.

  
But no, this time he was significantly late. See, he had an exam today: that he had conveniently forgotten about. So his whole lunch period was spent cramming in the study lounge. And, out of pity and a damn good bit of luck, his teacher let him stay after class for a while to finish the couple questions he had left.

  
Which added up to a 20-minute delay and a panging ache in his belly. He hadn’t eaten since his breakfast that morning and now his tummy was making the rumblies that only mackerel would satisfy.

  
Of course, the school cafeteria didn’t have mackerel for an after-school snack, so he snagged 3 strawberry yogurt parfaits and sprinted out of the building and towards the pool.

  
Everybody was waiting for him. Makoto’s eyes, which were wide with fear, softened as Haru came into view.

  
“Where were you?” He asked. “We started getting worried, well, as soon as we got here and you weren’t in the pool.”

  
“Had to finish a test,” Haru huffed. The sprint had left him short of breath, despite his notable athleticism. His stomach gave a loud and guttural growl that turned everybody’s heads.

  
“You hungry?” Nagisa asked brightly. “I know I am…”

  
“When are you not?” Rei retorted with playful scorn in his voice. The two continued to bicker as Haru opened the first parfait and inhaled in in three heaping spoonfuls.

  
Mako’s brows furrowed. “You sure you should be eating like that before swimming?” Concern flowered on the brunet’s face. Haru could take care of himself, living alone and all, but he often made poor choices.

  
Haru simply glared at him and popped a yogurt-covered strawberry into his mouth. Mako rolled his eyes and put on his goggles as Kou approached.  
“Hey boys!” She squealed, waving a clipboard. On it were dozens of characters; clearly, she had spent quite a long time on the day’s training schedule. She took a moment to survey her team’s thick slabs of muscle, smiling approvingly. But her eyes fell on Haru.

  
“Haru-chan, what are you doing?” She stared at the pink goop splattered sloppily around his mouth in a fashion quite uncharacteristic of the boy, as well as the boy himself hunched over his snack and devouring it like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

  
He stared back with cold ocean eyes that burned, _What does it look like_?

  
Kou dropped it; he was a boy, and boys will be boys. “Anyway, I thought you’d benefit from some conditioning and stamina training!”

  
“An apt assessment, Kou,” Rei commented in his cocky yet endearing matter-of-fact attitude. “We’re doomed to fail if we can’t keep up in the final meters of our events.” Nagisa stuck his tongue out at the four-eyed butt-kisser.

  
“Exactly! So you boys will be doing a lot of sustained and sustained exercise today. You better be ready for an extra-hard workout, but it’ll help you a lot in the long run!”

  
The black-haired swimmer threw down his second empty parfait cup, stood up, snapped on his goggles, and jumped right into his lane. The three other guys sighed and jumped into theirs with a lot less enthusiasm.

  
They floated for a few minutes to adjust to the water while Kou reviewed her regiment notes. Meanwhile, Haru’s belly began to feel rather strange. Kind of like it was bring stretched at the corners, which gave him a terrible burning sensation. _Cramps. Dammit_. He dipped a hand under the water to knead at his swollen belly, which did nothing but intensify the pain.

  
Mako looked over from the neighboring lane.

  
“Hey, Haru, you feeling okay?” He whispered. “You look a little green around the gills.”

  
Grimacing, Haru tensed up as a ferocious cramp rolled through his abdomen. The slop in his stomach was roiling and quite unhappy with its host. He hiccupped quite loudly, turning everyone’s head again, then mumbled, “ ‘m fine.”

  
Tachibana turned back to his lane but continued to send a suspicious gaze towards the stubborn free-styler.

  
“Alright!” Kou cried out. “To get your hearts pumping, we’re gonna start with a 100-meter race. Just do whatever stroke you’re comfortable with, but go as fast as possible. And if I think you’re slacking, I’ll make you do another 100!” The competitive flash in the manager’s eyes was just as dangerous as her brother’s. Them damn Matsuokas…

  
All four swimmers placed their hand on the pool wall and waited intently for the signal. She allowed them to wallow desperately in the anticipation, then gave a loud screech from her whistle.

  
Just like that, they all took off. Three of them went absolutely sailing, slicing through the water like a hot knife through butter.

  
Except for Nanase. He was swimming more like a butter knife through beef jerky. And that’s what his gut felt like: tough and gross. With each stroke, his abdominal muscles seared from the stretching and sent a wave of nausea ringing through him like the Liberty Bell. Despite the cool water, he felt quite hot. That yogurt was sitting in his stomach like a rock. A boulder would be a better descriptor, considering the sheer volume he had scarfed down before jumping in the water.

  
Bad decision, he groaned. Each of his breaths was extraordinarily shallow, as the stomach had bloated up and taken away all the room for his lungs. At the end of each breath, a white-hot and piercing pain shot through his chest and through to his stomach. The cramps were getting unbearable, just as he was nearing the turn.

  
Kou had been watching all of this unfold. The others were doing excellent, but Nanase was uncharacteristically sluggish. He was a full length behind everyone, even Rei.

  
“Pick up the pace, Haru!” She chastised. Concern began to blossom inside of her. Nanase should be a full length ahead of everyone else, not the other way around, she pondered. I hope he’s okay.

  
When Haru folded in on himself for the turn, he experienced a brief reprieve from the pain. Curling in around his stomach had ebbed away some of the pain. This relief was short lived, for when he extended his midsection for the second half of the race, the muscles screamed in pain. As did he, causing him to aspirate a mouthful of water. He began to cough, which only made the cramps worse and brought the yogurt farther up his throat.

  
Makoto had been watching his friend the entire race. Of course he noticed that Haru was falling behind. Way behind. His strokes were sloppy and his kicks uncoordinated. _I knew it_ , Mako cursed. _Dammit, Haru, this is why you shouldn’t stuff your face before a race! You’ll get a bellyache!_

  
This was all coming too late for Nanase Haruka, however. Panting harshly, desperately trying to get air into his strained and compacted lungs, he flashed his gaze ahead to the rest of his team. Nagisa had finished and was catching his breath, Mako was close behind, and Rei would finish any second now. He himself only had 10 meters left.

  
The agony in his stomach was a monster that couldn’t be ignored. It became so great that it grew claws and pulled down his arms so that Haru, without even thinking, stopped swimming and clutched his midsection in the middle of the pool. He immediately began to sink. But he couldn’t even worry about that. A spasm was growing in the angry organ that spread from his abdomen to his whole body, culminating in a pained cry erupting from his throat. The once-contoured but now-swollen flesh around his stomach felt so hot that he wondered if the water around it would start boiling.

  
“Shit,” Makoto cursed. He recognized the situation. When they were kids, Haru would never wait the recommended 30 minutes after eating before leaping right into the pool. And without fail, he would always get terrible stomach cramps. That’s what was happening right now. Except this was worse. Their pool was deep, and Haru was in too much pain to limp towards the ladder.

  
Makoto had to enter full lifeguard mode. As he swam, he barked orders at the rest of the Swim Club. “Guys, Haru’s cramping up!” He spluttered through the mist he generated while pumping his arms. “I’m gonna go get him!” Rei and Nagisa exchanged distressed glances.

  
Haru was a good half-meter under the water by the time Makoto reached him. He wrapped his arms around the raven-haired swimmer and began to tug him to the wall. Progress was slow, and each second drove a stake of fear farther into the backstroker’s heart. Haru looked unconscious. And from the violent splashing, it was hard to tell if he was breathing.

  
When he reached the end of the pool, Rei and Nagisa helped pull the two out of the water. Haru fell limply against the concrete. The water from his body streaked off and formed a dark silhouette around him.

  
“No, no no, Haru!” Makoto cried. He pounded his fists against the boy’s chest turning his head to the side and shaking him, but nothing seemed to work. He leaned a delicate ear right up to his slightly parted lips and heard breathing. Shallow, but there. A good sign, at least.

  
“C’mon, Haruka!” Nagisa screeched. “Makoto is the only one who’s allowed to drown!”

  
Makoto’s green eyes grew wild as they scanned the unconscious body of his best friend. His chest rose mere millimeters. There was no way he was getting enough oxygen. That meant drastic measures needed to be taken.

  
Without so much as a second thought, Tachibana Makoto surged forward and locked his lips against the clammy ones of Nanase Haruka. He blew with gentle force, hoping to clear the water out of the airway.

  
Rei, Nagisa, and Kou all gasped at the site of their vice-captain and captain swapping spit. In an emergency context, nonetheless. That was their main concern.

  
Makoto gave a few more experimental puffs of air into Haru’s chest before his eyes snapped open. Mako flew backwards, and just in time, as Haru flipped onto his side, retched, and brought up a massive wave of barely-digested parfait.

  
Kou screamed, covered her face, and went running towards the locker rooms. Rei followed soon after, pressing one hand to his mouth and the other to his own stomach. Only Nagisa stayed behind to survey the scene in front of them, chipper as ever.

  
Haru gasped, coughed, and spluttered as pink drool and pool water dripped from his panting mouth. His stomach felt worse than ever. Seriously like it was on fire, caving in on itself and taking Haru with it. He jumped when he felt a cool hand begin rubbing his bare back between the shoulder blades. It was Mako.

  
“Shh,” he cooed. “It’s okay, Haru.” He rubbed gentle circles in the angular muscles and brushed strands of saturated black hair out of his face. With a disgusting watery groan, Nanase spewed another pastel mouthful. Mako grimaced but continued comforting the sick swimmer.

  
Nagisa leaned forward to examine. “Dude, you puked up a whole strawberry!” The short blond was right. Sitting in the middle of the stinking puddle was a full strawberry: warped and discolored nonetheless, yet completely intact.

  
“Nagisa, now is not the time,” Makoto growled over the retching sounds of his friend. Nagisa shut up and stepped back as the pink pool grew in diameter.

  
Haru gave one last feeble burp and brought up a final mouthful of stomach sauce. He groaned, laying a tentative hand on his belly, then falling flat on his back on the damp concrete. Nagisa and Makoto leaned over him.

  
“You done?” Makoto asked. His pity instinct was wearing off. Now he was left with disappointment and a little bit of anger. “What possessed you to eat an inhuman amount of dairy and immediately start swimming? Don’t you know you’re supposed to wait? Have you learned nothing after all these years of stomachaches and cramps?”

  
Haru opened a single eye to stare at his disgusted and scowling captain. He coughed weakly, as the acidic geysers had burned his throat raw. “I guess not,” he croaked.

  
Makoto could only roll his eyes and extend a hand out to his friend. “C’mon, let’s get you some water.”  
Instinct kicked in and Haru began to crawl back to the pool.

  
“Water to DRINK, you idiot!” Mako roared as he restrained the ravenette and dragged him towards the school.

**Author's Note:**

> Anybody else get a total Colin Creevey vibe from Nagisa? Or is it just me? #TotallyChamberOfSecrets
> 
> +10 points to Ravenclaw for use of the words “stomach sauce.”
> 
> Did y'all get that reference to Llamas With Hats? ...no? Okay, I'll see myself out.


End file.
